Copilot Takes On More Responsibility in Microsoft 365

Microsoft's Copilot has been evolving in the background, gradually becoming more embedded in Microsoft 365. The company tends to roll out changes in 'waves', grouping together bigger updates rather than releasing everything at once. We're now into the latest phase, and this one feels a little different.

The focus of Copilot is shifting from helping users with tasks to taking on more responsibility within workflows. One of the biggest changes is the ability to create your own AI agents inside Microsoft 365. This means you can build small, task-focused assistants that handle specific parts of your day, managing repetitive processes and following set rules.

Copilot's chat experience has also become more capable. You can now make changes to documents, emails, spreadsheets, and presentations directly from a conversation, without jumping between different screens. A new layer called 'Work IQ' is being introduced, which helps Copilot understand your business context better by using your company's data, communication patterns, and internal content.

Microsoft is expanding the underlying AI models Copilot can use, bringing in technology from different providers. This will make the system more flexible and capable over time. Another feature worth keeping an eye on is 'Copilot coworker', which allows AI agents to carry out longer, multi-step processes rather than just responding to a single request.